WIRELESS-LAN

INTRODUCTION:

IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of LAN protocols, and specifies the set of media access
control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network
(WLAN) Wi-Fi computer communication in various frequencies, including but not limited to 2.4
GHz, 5 GHz, and 60 GHz frequency bands.

They are the world's most widely used wireless computer networking standards, used in most
home and office networks to allow laptops, printers, and smartphones to talk to each other and
access the Internet without connecting wires. They are created and maintained by the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802). The
base version of the standard was released in 1997, and has had subsequent amendments. The
standard and amendments provide the basis for wireless network products using the Wi-Fi brand.
While each amendment is officially revoked when it is incorporated in the latest version of the
standard, the corporate world tends to market to the revisions because they concisely denote
capabilities of their products. As a result, in the marketplace, each revision tends to become its
own standard.

The protocols are typically used in conjunction with IEEE 802.2, and are designed to interwork
seamlessly with Ethernet, and are very often used to carry Internet Protocol traffic. Although IEEE
802.11 specifications list channels that might be used, the radio frequency spectrum availability
allowed varies significantly by regulatory domain.

IEEE 802.11 MAC FRAME STRUCTURE:

The MAC layer frame consist of 9 fields. The following figure shows the basic structure of an IEEE
802.11 MAC data frame along with the content of the frame control field.

 FRAME CONTROL:
It is 2 bytes long field which defines type of frame and some control information. Various
fields present in FC are:
1. VERSION:
It is a 2 bit long field which indicates the current protocol version which is fixed to be
0 for now.
2. TYPE:
It is a 2 bit long field which determines the function of frame i.e management(00),
control(01) or data(10). The value 11 is reserved.
3. SUBTYPE:
It is a 4 bit long field which indicates sub-type of the frame like 0000 for association
request, 1000 for beacon.
4. TO DS:
It is a 1 bit long field which when set indicates that destination frame is for
DS(distribution system).
5. FROM DS:
It is a 1 bit long field which when set indicates frame coming from DS.
6. MORE FRAG(More Fragments):
It is 1 bit long field which when set to 1 means frame is followed by other fragments.
7. RETRY:
It is 1 bit long field, if the current frame is a retransmission of an earlier frame, this bit
is set to 1.
8. POWER MGMT (POWER MANAGEMENT):
It is 1 bit long field which indicates the mode of a station after successful transmission
of a frame. Set to 1 the field indicates that the station goes into power-save mode. If
the field is set to 0, the station stays active.
 9. MORE DATA :
It is 1 bit long field which is used to indicates a receiver that a sender has more data
to send than the current frame. This can be used by an access point to indicate to a
station in power-save mode that more packets are buffered or it can be used by a
station to indicate to an access point after being polled that more polling is necessary
as the station has more data ready to transmit.
10. WEP:
It is 1 bit long field which indicates that the standard security mechanism of 802.11 is
applied.
11. ORDER:
It is 1 bit long field, if this bit is set to 1 the received frames must be processed in strict
order.

 DURATION/ID –
It is 4 bytes long field which contains the value indicating the period of time in which the
medium is occupied (in µs).
 ADDRESS 1 TO 4 :
These are 6 bytes long fields which contain standard IEEE 802 MAC addresses (48 bit each).
The meaning of each address depends on the DS bits in the frame control field.
 SC(SEQUENCE CONTROL) :
It is 16 bits long field which consists of 2 sub-fields, i.e., Sequence number (12 bits) and
Fragment number (4 bits). Since acknowledgement mechanism frames may be duplicated
hence, a sequence number is used to filter duplicate frames.
 DATA :

It is a variable length field which contain information specific to individual frames which is
transferred transparently from a sender to the receiver(s).
  CRC (CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK):
It is 4 bytes long field which contains a 32 bit CRC error detection sequence to ensure error
free frame.
IEEE 802.11 ARCHITECTURE:

The architecture of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN is designed to support a network where most decision
making is distributed to mobile stations. This type of architecture has several advantages. It is
tolerant of faults in all of the WLAN equipment and eliminates possible bottlenecks a centralized
architecture would introduce. The architecture is flexible and can easily support both small,
transient networks and large, semi-permanent or permanent networks. In addition, the
architecture and protocols offer significant power saving and prolong the battery life of mobile
equipment without losing network connectivity

Two network architectures are defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard:

 INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK:

An infrastructure network is the network architecture for providing communication

between wireless clients and wired network resources. The transition of data from the
wireless to wired medium occurs via an AP. An AP and its associated wireless clients
define the coverage area. Together all the devices form a basic service set.

 POINT-TO-POINT (AD-HOC) NETWORKS:

An ad-hoc network is the architecture that is used to support mutual communication
between wireless clients. Typically, an ad-hoc network is created spontaneously and does
not support access to wired networks. An ad-hoc network does not require an AP.
IEEE 802.11 supports three basic topologies for WLANs, the independent basic service set (IBSS),
the basic service set, and the extended service set (ESS). The MAC layer supports
implementations of IBSS, basic service set, and ESS configurations.

 INDEPENDENT BASIC SERVICE SET:

The IBSS configuration is referred to as an independent configuration or an ad-hoc network.
An IBSS configuration is analogous to a peer-to-peer office network in which no single node
is required to act as a server. IBSS WLANs include a number of nodes or wireless stations
that communicate directly with one another on an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer basis. Generally,
IBSS implementations cover a limited area and are not connected to any large network. An
IBSS is typically a short-lived network, with a small number of stations, that is created for a
particular purpose.
 BASIC SERVICE SET:
The basic service set configuration relies on an AP that acts as the logical server for a single
WLAN cell or channel. Communications between station 1 and station 4 actually flow from
station 1 to AP1 and then from AP1 to AP2 and then from AP2 to AP4 and finally AP4 to
station 4. An AP performs a bridging function and connects multiple WLAN cells or channels,
and connects WLAN cells to a wired enterprise LAN.
  EXTENDED SERVICE SET:
The ESS configuration consists of multiple basic service set cells that can be linked by either
wired or wireless backbones called a distributed system. IEEE 802.11 supports ESS
configurations in which multiple cells use the same channel, and configurations in which
multiple cells use different channels to boost aggregate throughput. To network the
equipment outside of the ESS, the ESS and all of its mobile stations appear to be a single
MAC layer network where all stations are physically stationary. Thus, the ESS hides the
mobility of the mobile stations from everything outside the ESS.

DIFFERENT IMPLEMENTATION OF IEE802.11:

1. IEEE 802.11 INFRARED:

• It uses diffused (not line of sight) infrared light in the range of 800 to 950 nm.

• It allows two different speeds: I Mbps and 2Mbps.

• For a I-Mbps data rate, 4 bits of data are encoded into 16 bit code. This 16 bit code contains
fifteen as and a single 1.

• For a 2-Mbps data rate, a 2 bit code is encoded into 4 bit code. This 4 bit code contains three
Os and a single 1.

• The modulation technique used is pulse position modulation (PPM) i.e. for converting digital
signal to analog.

2. IEEE 802.11 FHSS :

• IEEE 802.11 uses Frequency Hoping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) method for signal generation.

• This method uses 2.4 GHz ISM band. This band is divided into 79 subbands of 1MHz with some
guard bands.

• In this method, at one moment data is sent by using one carrier frequency and then by some
other carrier frequency at next moment. After this, an idle time is there in communication. This
cycle is repeated after regular intervals.
• A pseudo random number generator selects the hopping sequence.

• The allowed data rates are 1 or 2 Mbps.

• This method uses frequency shift keying (two level or four level) for modulation i.e. for
converting digital signal to analogy.

3. IEEE 802.11 DSSS:

• This method uses Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) method for signal generation. Each
bit is transmitted as 11 chips using a Barker sequence.

• DSSS uses the 2.4-GHz ISM band.

• It also allows the data rates of 1 or 2 Mbps.

• It uses phase shift keying (PSK) technique at 1 M baud for converting digital signal to analog
signal.

4. IEEE 802.11a OFDM:

• This method uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for signal generation.

• This method is capable of delivering data upto 18 or 54 Mbps.

• In OFDM all the subbands are used by one source at a given time.

• It uses 5 GHz ISM band.

• This band is divided into 52 subbands, with 48 subbands for data and 4 subbands for control
information.

• If phase shift keying (PSK) is used for modulation then data rate is 18 Mbps. If quadrature
amplitude modulation (QAM) is used, the data rate can be 54 Mbps.

5. IEEE 802.11b HR-OSSS:

• It uses High Rate Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum method for signal generation.

• HR-DSSS is similar to DSSS except for encoding method.

• Here, 4 or 8 bits are encoded into a special symbol called complementary code key (CCK).

• It uses 2.4 GHz ISM band.

• It supports four data rates: 1,2,5.5 and 11 Mbps.

• 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps data rates uses phase shift modulation.

• The 5.5. Mbps version uses BPSK and transmits at 1.375 Mbaud/s with 4-bit CCK encoding.

• The 11 Mbps version uses QPSK and transmits at 1.375 Mbps with 8-bit CCK encoding.

6. IEEE 802.11g OFDM:

• It uses OFDM modulation technique.

• It uses 2.4 GHz ISM band.

• It supports the data rates of 22 or 54 Mbps.

• It is backward compatible with 802.11 b.

ADVANTAGES OF WIRELESS LAN’s:

Wireless LANs offer the following advantages over traditional wired networks. Mobility Users on
a wireless LAN systems can access to real-time information from anywhere within their
organization. This mobility supports productivity and service opportunities, which are not
possible with wired networks.

 FAST INSTALLATION AND SIMPLICITY:

Installing a wireless LAN system can be fast and easy and can eliminate the need to pull
cables through walls, floor, and ceilings.
 INSTALLATION FLEXIBILITY:
Wireless network is suitable for any kind of geographical conditions. Installation requires
to properly setup the transmitter and the receiver antenna (RF) or infrared system. This is
much easier than cable installation of a wired LAN. If a company decided to move to a new
location, the wireless system is much easier to move.
  REDUCED COST:
The initial investment required for wireless LAN hardware is higher than the cost of wired
LAN hardware. However, the overall installation expenses and life cycle costs are
significantly lower. Long-term cost benefits are greatest in dynamic environments,
requiring frequent moves and changes.
 SCALABILITY WIRELESS LAN:
systems can be configured in a variety of topologies to cater to the need for specific
applications and installations. Configurations can be easily changed. They scale well. New
nodes can be added to the existing wireless LAN without much degradation of performance.

REFERENCES:

 https://www.ques10.com/p/10715/architecture-of-ieee-80211-1/
 https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/ieee-802-11-mac-frame/
 http://ecomputernotes.com/computernetworkingnotes/communication-networks/wireless-lan
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11
 http://www.bb-elec.com/Learning-Center/All-White-Papers/Wireless-Cellular/IEEE-802-11-for-
Industrial-Applications.aspx